Best of the blues

It's a wonder that a form of music so simplistic as the blues can have such a transforming effect on body rhythm. In the hands of either the inexperienced or the indifferent performer, the blues can be a plodding, mundane music. Thankfully, Taj Mahal, the son of a Jamaican jazz musician father and a gospel-singing mother, knows how to adapt even the most fundamental of beats. In the process, he alters the blues from something merely pleasant to a thing of the utmost seductive thrill.

As the big-name opener of the Guinness Blues Festival, Taj Mahal's gig set the pace for the remainder of the weekend. This was fulsome, funk-edged blues played loose and ready. When he wasn't chugging out the jumpin' jive riffs of I'll Be Glad When You' Dead, You Rascal, You, he was off on a tangent which fused blues with swing, calypso, and anything else that came to mind.

In a word? Cool.